The present invention relates to debris impellers for vacuum cleaners, floor sweepers, surface cleaning extractors, or the like.
Floor cleaners are known which use a rotating brush with bristles thereon for lifting debris off a floor, or out of a carpet or rug. These rotating brushes also throw the debris into a dirt pan or bag. A problem with such brushes is hair, fur, lint and other debris tends to get caught in the bristles which prevents effective lifting and throwing of debris into the debris receptacle used therewith Combs have been used to remove debris caught in the bristles of such brushes. Although such combs remove the debris stuck in the bristles as the brush is rotated, these combs increase the amount of force required to turn the brushes, and thus increase the force required to move the cleaning device Use of a comb and brush is particularly a problem on slippery floors where the wheels which drive the brush will slide on the floor as the force required to turn the brushes through the comb is greater than the friction between the drive wheels and the floor.
An alternative to the bristle brush is an impeller constructed from elongated blades which are received in slots within a metal core. One such impeller is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,797 issued to Kobayashi which includes an extruded metal core having slots formed therein to receive blades. Another is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,267,304 issued to Adams which includes a core having slots for receiving blades having holes therein. United Kingdom Patent 642,819 shows another impeller which is an assembly of metal brackets which form channels for receiving blades therebetween. The elongated blades of these impellers may include dimples, lateral ribs, or holes for lifting debris. These blades, like the brushes described above, collect debris which must be removed in order for the blade to continue to effectively pick up debris. In order to remove such debris, a surface must be positioned to contact the blades as they rotate, which increases the force required to rotate the impeller, and thus has the disadvantage of increasing the force required to push the machine and turn the impeller drive wheels. Additionally, these impellers are relatively difficult to manufacture and consequently are relatively costly. Another disadvantage of some of these impellers is the blades are made from a material which mars the floor as the impeller rotates, or interact with the plasticizer in some floors, such as vinyl flooring when the impeller is at rest, which causes the blade material or coloring to transfer to the floor, or react with chemicals used to clean floors in residential or commercial settings.